Don’t Distort Gun Violence Statistics

April 6, 2014

Nothing like fooling the public by lying with statistics! In the article about the rally against the SAFE Act (Post-Journal, April 3, 2014), it is stated that there were only five murders with a rifle in New York state in 2012. That's like reporting total automobile fatalities by using only those for Lamborghinis.

The latest statistics from the FBI Uniform Crime Reports broken down by states is from 2011. There you will find total firearms murders by type of firearms used. Yes, indeed, there were only 5 murders using a rifle, but there were 394 murders using handguns, 16 by shotguns, 30 by "unknown" firearms.

That's a total of 445 murders by firearms ... including the five by rifles. (Does the SAFE Act apply only to rifles?)

In 2011, the FBI reported 12,664 murders in the U.S. Of those, 8,583 were caused by firearms, including rifles, handguns, shotguns and other guns.

These statistics don't include suicides using firearms, which amounted to 19,392 in 2010, according to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention).

If gun owners are truly concerned about the SAFE Act and want to convince others the best way to begin is by being honest.